Society News

Cooch Behar/Gonda, Aug 18 (ANI): Villagers complained of no aid by the officials as monsoon floods hit various districts of India and wrecked havoc disrupting normal life. Due to the heavy torrential rains in Bhutan and Nepal, several districts of north Bengal and parts of northern Uttar Pradesh have been mainly affected. In Malda district of north Bengal, the flow of Fulahar River is in extreme danger level. Acres of farmlands covered with crops are lost due to incessant rain in Malda district. Similar chaotic situations also hover in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh, where heavy monsoon rains since August 15 has brought normal life to a standstill.Aug 18, 2014

Meerut, Aug 18 (ANI): A court in Meerut city of Uttar Pradesh has sent suspected agent of ISI of Pakistan to judicial custody. The State Special Task Force arrested Asif Ali on Saturday (August 16) in Meerut. Ali is indicted of transferring primary information about the Indian Army to the ISI. Public Prosecutor, Samar Bahadur Yadav, confirmed the court’s order. Ali was working as a cover at a shop in the city. He worked as a messenger and collected information related to the Indian Army and transferred money to his Pakistani associates. The STF team also recovered a laptop from Ali, which if connected to the internet, could hack information.Aug 18, 2014

Kanpur, Aug 18 (ANI): A school in Kanpur city of Uttar Pradesh has taken the initiative to teach computers to visually challenged students through talking software, which can help them become computer savvy. Software called JAWS (Job Access with Speech) is a computer screen reader programme that allows visually-impaired people to read the screen with the help of text-to-speech output. The students of ‘Kanpur Anddh Vidyalaya Junior High School’ are excited to use the software that enables them to cross the barriers imposed upon them by nature. The school currently has more than 80 visually-challenged students who are learning computers and can opt for either English or Hindi language.Aug 18, 2014

Kurdish fighters backed by US warplanes pushed back jihadists around Iraq's largest dam on Sunday, as Sunni Arab tribesmen and security forces fought the militants west of Baghdad. Duration: 01:26Aug 17, 2014

Scottish voters face many key issues in trying to decide whether or not to split from the United Kingdom in September's referendum. Analysts from the University of Edinburgh, outline issues which may be causing indecision. Duration: 01:56Aug 17, 2014

A giant 63-metre blue whale shark statue towers over the world's largest aquarium, on a Chinese island being promoted as a testing ground for reforms aimed at encouraging domestic consumption as the driver of economic growth. Duration: 00:46Aug 17, 2014

Hyderabad, Aug 17 (ANI): Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday defended the state survey and said that no misuse of the same is possible in any way. He said that there are columns asking for account number and other things which are not essentially required and people who don’t wish to give the same are not forced to do the same. Rao said that the data will be in public domain and no buying and selling is possible of the same and the information can not be used for any wrong purpose.Aug 17, 2014

Uttarakhand, Aug 17 (ANI): Health consciousness is growing among people. This has led to an increase in demand for organic and natural food products across the globe, including India. Currently, the market for organic foods in India is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 20-22 per cent. And, it is expected to grow from $ 57.2 billion in 2010 to $ 104.5 billion in 2015. The industry is now encouraging farmers to take up organic farming and cultivate premium-priced and health-oriented crops. Let alone food products, the organic products market is expanding in sectors such as clothing, beauty and home interiors like wall paints. It sure has a healthy future in the Indian market.Aug 17, 2014

Chennai, Aug 17 (ANI): A vintage car rally in Chennai charmed the automobile lovers with over 100 varieties of beauty on wheels on Sunday. Proud owners flaunted their vintage cars, which included classics like Chrysler Town, Packard Clipper, Ford Prefect, Ford Anglia, MGB, MG-TD, Morris, Jaguar SS, Austin Cambridge, Austin Chummy, Dodge Kingsway, Mercedes, Rolls Royce and Riley. Owner of a heritage Mercedes Benz said the car is special because it comes from a time before the World War II and is still in the perfect running condition. He, however, said that due to non-availability of spare parts of such old cars, it becomes exceedingly difficult to maintain them.Aug 17, 2014

Chennai, Aug 17 (ANI): Workers of Tamil Nadu regional party, Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) on Sunday staged a protest over derogatory article published on Sri Lanka’s defence ministry website about state Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An article titled: ‘how meaningful are Jayalalithaa's love letters to Narendra Modi’ had appeared on Sri Lankan defence ministry website with pictures of Jayalalithaa dreaming about Indian PM Modi. However, the article was later removed from the website and Sri Lanka also tendered an apology. On Sunday, protesters demanded that India should boycott the defence meet scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka from August 18 to August 20.Aug 17, 2014

Bhubaneswar, Aug 17 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday raided Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) secretary Ashirbad Behera’s house in Bhubaneswar city in connection with the chit fund scam. The CBI investigated Behera, among others, for having links with Pradeep Sethy, the chairman-cum-managing director of a chit fund company, Artha Tatwa. The company, according to the CBI, is among the 44 firms in the state which are running fraudulent chit schemes and are tricking the investors. Sethy, reportedly, has been arrested, and the value of the seized properties of the AT Group is said to have been around rupees 400 crores.Aug 17, 2014

Chapra, Aug 17 (ANI): Addressing the Chapra rally in Bihar, JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar said that the alliance between the RJD and JD (U) is like a cure to the NDA government at the centre. He also said that the parties are working for the state and will continue to do so and will defeat the NDA government anyhow in the state polls.Aug 17, 2014

Chapra, Aug 17 (ANI): While addressing a rally in Chapra district of Bihar, RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said that Nitish Kumar is like his brother and the alliance between the two parties will work to free the nation from wrong hands. Yadav also slammed the Narendra Modi led NDA government for working against the nation and not standing by their promises. Yadav also said that the total votes of RJD and JD (U) in Lok Sabha polls was much higher than that of BJP and this tie up will defeat the NDA in the state polls.Aug 17, 2014